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THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.
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a firmer foundation at the hands of PIERRE FRANCO and
JAQUES GUILLEMEAU. The former recommended for
extracting the child, that a speculum having three branches
should be introduced into the vagina : into this he endeavoured
to guide the head or the feet of the child. He
thus came near to the discovery of the midwifery forceps *
GUILLEMEAU was acquainted with placenta previa without
however understanding how it arose and he performed an
accouchement force on the daughter of A. PARE. Caesarean
section was undertaken on the living; but it appears in
several cases, of which mention is made, to have been a
question merely of abdominal section in extra-uterine
fcetation. Thus BAUHIN relates that JACOB NUFER, a
Swiss gelder, in the year 1500 opened the abdomen of his
wife who was pregnant " in the manner in which he was
accustomed to do it in the case of swine "—and this after
13 midwives and numerous surgeons had attempted in vain
to deliver her in the natural way.f In this case he is said
to have given exit to a living child after the first incision.
But on the other hand some cases must be referred to
.Caesarean section proper.^ Recourse seems to have been
had to this operation even more frequently than was
necessary; A. PARE cautioned surgeons against this and
referred to the dangers of the operation. But people were
not sufficiently advanced in knowledge to be able to define
the conditions under which it is proper to undertake
Caesarean section although the works of ARANZIO on contraction
of the pelvis perhaps afforded to doctors some
suggestions upon the subject.
The spirit of criticism was aroused also in other departments
of medicine and shook men's faith in doctrines and
processes which relied for their support upon prevailing
authorities. PIERRE BRISSOT pronounced it to be wrong, in
* SIEBOLD op. cit. ii, 83.
f SIEBOLD op. cit. ii, 94 et seq.
X SIEBOLD op. cit. ii, 106 et seq.—O. WACHS : DerWittenberger Kaiserschnitt
von 1610, Leipzig 1868.